An Easy Plan for Home Built Hydroponic Gardens
If you are ready to try your hand at hydroponics, then you want to choose the easiest of all home built hydroponic gardens – the wick system. With just a few simple directions and very little materials, you can embark on your new soil-less gardening adventure. While it can take quite a bit of money to set you up in hydroponics on the large scale (think full vegetable gardens or flower gardens), the first stage of learning costs little if anything to start.
Before You Start
Anyone embarking on creating home built hydroponic gardens should take note of several things before you get started. First of all, when scavenging for materials, be sure that you do not choose any that held hazardous chemicals such as oil products or poison. For the most part, materials that held items for human consumption are considered safe.
If you choose metal materials for your home built hydroponic gardens, only go with the stainless steel variety, especially if it will be in direct contact with the minerals and nutrients that "feed" the plants. Non-stainless steel materials may necessitate a non-tar asphalt mixture be brushed on the surface and then dried so as to avoid the metal reacting with any of the nutrients which feed the plants.
While you will be learning how to make a wick system below, if you should graduate to other home built hydroponic gardens that use an air pump or submersible pump, be sure that they are graded for saltwater use. Otherwise, the nutrients that feed the hydroponic plants could conduct electricity.
Building The Wick System
To create home built hydroponic gardens using a wick system, all you need is a plastic pot with drain holes at the bottom (much like what shrubs come in at a nursery), a wicking mechanism, a bucket and a non-nutritional medium like pea gravel or perlite. Remember, the buckets should not have held harmful materials or be non-stainless steel!
The wicks can be long strips of cotton, either purchased or even obtained by tearing up an old t-shirt. The pot with drain holes should fit comfortably over the bucket without falling in. Make three or four wicks by cutting two-inch strips of cotton material long enough to reach from the bottom of the bucket all the way up to the top of the pot with the medium material in it like the gravel.
Push the wicks through the drainage holes of the pot, leaving plenty of length inside of it and the rest will be placed in the bucket which will be filled with a liquid nutrient. Holding the wicks in place, pour the medium into the pot. The tops of the wicks should be peeking through the top of the medium.
In the bucket, pour the liquid nutrients until just below the bottom of the plastic pot that will be placed on top of the bucket. Allow the wicks to dangle from the bottom of the pot into the filled bucket so that the wicks can carry the liquid nutrients up through the gravel material in the pot. Plant some seeds in your gravel medium right near the wicks so that they can get plenty of moisture. Soon, you should see sprouts pushing through. Voila – now you are a hydroponic gardener and well on your way to learning how to build other home built hydroponic gardens.
If you are ready to try your hand at hydroponics, then you want to choose the easiest of all home built hydroponic gardens – the wick system. With just a few simple directions and very little materials, you can embark on your new soil-less gardening adventure. While it can take quite a bit of money to set you up in hydroponics on the large scale (think full vegetable gardens or flower gardens), the first stage of learning costs little if anything to start.
Before You Start
Anyone embarking on creating home built hydroponic gardens should take note of several things before you get started. First of all, when scavenging for materials, be sure that you do not choose any that held hazardous chemicals such as oil products or poison. For the most part, materials that held items for human consumption are considered safe.
If you choose metal materials for your home built hydroponic gardens, only go with the stainless steel variety, especially if it will be in direct contact with the minerals and nutrients that "feed" the plants. Non-stainless steel materials may necessitate a non-tar asphalt mixture be brushed on the surface and then dried so as to avoid the metal reacting with any of the nutrients which feed the plants.
While you will be learning how to make a wick system below, if you should graduate to other home built hydroponic gardens that use an air pump or submersible pump, be sure that they are graded for saltwater use. Otherwise, the nutrients that feed the hydroponic plants could conduct electricity.
Building The Wick System
To create home built hydroponic gardens using a wick system, all you need is a plastic pot with drain holes at the bottom (much like what shrubs come in at a nursery), a wicking mechanism, a bucket and a non-nutritional medium like pea gravel or perlite. Remember, the buckets should not have held harmful materials or be non-stainless steel!
The wicks can be long strips of cotton, either purchased or even obtained by tearing up an old t-shirt. The pot with drain holes should fit comfortably over the bucket without falling in. Make three or four wicks by cutting two-inch strips of cotton material long enough to reach from the bottom of the bucket all the way up to the top of the pot with the medium material in it like the gravel.
Push the wicks through the drainage holes of the pot, leaving plenty of length inside of it and the rest will be placed in the bucket which will be filled with a liquid nutrient. Holding the wicks in place, pour the medium into the pot. The tops of the wicks should be peeking through the top of the medium.
In the bucket, pour the liquid nutrients until just below the bottom of the plastic pot that will be placed on top of the bucket. Allow the wicks to dangle from the bottom of the pot into the filled bucket so that the wicks can carry the liquid nutrients up through the gravel material in the pot. Plant some seeds in your gravel medium right near the wicks so that they can get plenty of moisture. Soon, you should see sprouts pushing through. Voila – now you are a hydroponic gardener and well on your way to learning how to build other home built hydroponic gardens.
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